Hipotecaria Su Casita, S.A. de C.V. (HSC) and El Puerto de Liverpool, S.A.B. (EPL) (MXK: LIVEPOLC1) have signed a collaboration agreement under which they will provide loans to consumers to finance home furnishing or appliance purchases at Liverpool and Fabricas de Francia department stores, both of which are operated by EPL, according to a September 4, 2008 report in El Universal. 

The loans will available to consumers who obtain mortgage loans from HSC and do not borrow the maximum authorized amount, as determined by HSC based on consumer credit histories and income levels.  Such consumers will be offered a credit card, branded with both the HSC and EPL logos, that enables them to use the difference between the amount they actually borrow for their mortgage loans and the maximum authorized amount to make home furnishing and applicance purchases at Liverpool and Fabricas de Francia department stores.  Gonzalo Palfox, director of business development at HSC, said in the report that HSC has determined that 30% of Mexican mortgage loan borrowers do not use maximum authorized amount of mortgage financing.

The loans will bear interest at 35% per year, mature in five years, and be prepayable by consumers without penalty, according to a report in El Financiero.  The report also said that the collaboration agreement provides that EPL will place HSC kiosks in its Liverpool and Fabricas de Francia department stores, where consumers may request information about HSC mortgage loans.   

HSC was founded in 1994 as the first specialized mortgage lender in Mexico.  It is structured under Mexican law as a limited purpose finance company (sociedad financiera de objeto limitado – SOFOL), which means, very generally, that it is a specialized financial institution in terms of the types of loans it grants.  SOFOLs became particularly prominent in Mexico’s mortgage sector after December 1994, when the tequila crisis resulted in the collapse of the Mexican banking system and the banks ceased all mortgage lending operations.  SOFOLs, which now offer loans in various sectors of the Mexican finance market (e.g., agriculture, automotive, consumer goods, real estate, etc.), are not authorized to accept deposits.

Mexico’s Federal Commission for Protection Against Sanitary Risk (COFEPRIS) will hold a seminar at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City on October 3, 2008 on the registration procedures for imported medical devices. 

The seminar will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Please email me for more information.

Grupo del Blanco, a Hidalgo, Mexico-based housing construction company, and Federal Development, a Washington, DC-based real estate development company, have formed a joint venture to develop homes and resorts in Mexico, according to an August 27, 2008 report in El Financiero. 

The first project of the joint venture will be a US$500 million development called Golf & Resort, Real del Monte, located to the north of Mexico City.  The project will include homes, a golf course, and the longest synthetic downhill ski run in North America.

The President of Grupo del Blanco, Ernesto del Blanco Arjona, said in the report that vacation and retirement homes have been the fastest growing segments of the Mexican real estate market in recent years, with annual growth in excess of 80%.  He said that experts forecast sales of 25,000 homes in Mexico with a value of $9 billion in 2008.  Annual sales were expected to rise to 40,000 homes by 2010, he added. 

John Infantino, President of Federal Development, said in the report that the joint venture expected to develop projects in Mexico City, in Mexico’s beach communities, and other regions.  (In other words, anywhere the group finds opportunities.)

Mexico’s Congress is unlikely to loosen the country’s tight limitations on foreign investment in the country’s oil resources, according to a September 10, 2008 Bloomberg report.  The report said that “lawmakers this year are likely to pass only a measure making it easier for state-owned Pemex to hire outside service contractors.” 

Last week while in Mexico City, I had the opportunity to meet with an executive of the Mexican subsidiary of a major foreign oil company, who said that Mexico’s failure to open its economy to foreign investment in the petroleum sector, even on a limited basis, would continue to hinder Mexico’s economic growth.  He said that the price of gas in Mexico, which is kept low by government subsidies, was artificially low, and that the subsidies were benefiting the upper class more than the poor.

Pemex lacks the money and technology to exploit Mexico’s remaining oil resources, which are are significantly depleted.

According to a report in today’s El Financiero, the CEO (Director General) of Starbucks Coffee de Mexico, Gerardo Rojas, said that Starbucks Coffee Company (NYSE: SBUX) will increase its ownership stake in Starbucks Coffee de Mexico in 2009.  

Starbucks Coffee de Mexico is a joint venture that was formed in 2002 between Starbucks Coffee International, Inc., a Washington corporation, and SC de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., an affiliate of Alsea, S.A.B. (MX: ALSEA), one of Latin America’s leading franchise operators and foodservice distribution companies.

Mr. Rojas said that the joint venture agreement gives Starbucks Coffee International the right to increase its participation in Starbucks Coffee de Mexico, which has performed well in the Mexican market.

In 1998, 120 coffee producers in the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas became major Starbucks coffee suppliers.  Starbucks serves and sells their coffee throughout the world under the Shade Grown brand name.

The bidding for a concession to construct and operate a new airport to be located near the coastal hamlet of Tulum, Quintana Roo, is expected to open before October 31, 2008, according to a Ministry of Communications and Transportation (Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes) official who was quoted in a report in today’s El Financiero. 

The report said that the airport will be capable of handling 3 million passengers annually and the concession will be awarded to the company that offers lowest construction and operational costs.  The government is expected to announce the winner of the concession in 2009.  Construction should be completed by 2012.

Companies expected to submit bids include Mexico’s three major airport operators (which were created in 2005 upon the privatization of the airport management entity): Aeropuertos del Sureste de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. (ASUR), Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V. (PAC), and Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte, S.A. de C.V. (OMAB).

Tulum, located in the southern portion of the Mayan Riviera, is home to significant Mayan ruins.

The Diario Oficial de la Federacion (Official Federal Daily) today issued the official call for bids for the Punta Colonet port development project, a copy of which is available here.

The concessions to be granted simultaneously pursuant to the call for bids are:

A concession for the construction, operation and expoitation of a general rail communication line that includes routes originating at Colonet Bay, Ensenada, Baja California with one or two destination points at the U.S.-Mexico border and the provision of public rail cargo service and the permits to provide services relating to such routes;

A concession for management of the port and for the exploitation, use and enjoyment of public property of the federal government that forms part of the port area located in Colonet Bay, Ensenda, Baja California; and

A concession for the exploitation, use and enjoyment of public property of the federal government in the port area located in Colonet Bay, Ensenda, Baja California, and the construction, operation and exploitation of a public use commercial container terminal and the provision of related port services.  

Important dates for prospective bidders are September 8, 2008, which is the deadline for requesting admission to the bid orientation meeting, and October 2, 2008, which is the deadline to request paperwork for registration of interested bidders. 

Additional information on the Punta Colonet port development is available in Mexico Law Blog posts dated August 28, 2008 and July 31, 2008.

The slots of Mexican low-cost start-up airline Interjet at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City will be sold at public auction in 90 days, according to a report in today’s El Financiero. 

The report said that the Mexian Airspace Navigation Service (SENEAM) was revoking the slots because Interjet failed to pay slot usage fees of approximately US$193,000, which were originally owed by Aerocalifornia and assumed by Interjet, from which Interjet acquired the slots.  Interjet may participate in the auction.  In the meantime, the report said that Interjet will need to find other slots at Benito Juarez Airport during less saturated airport hours, which are generally late at night and early in the morning. 

Interjet, which is controlled by Grupo Aleman, principally operates out of the Toluca airport near Mexico City.

Best Buy will invest US$400 million in Mexico over the next three years to open its first 20 stores in the country, according to a report in today’s El Financiero. 

Eduardo Garcia Fabregat, the CEO of Best Buy’s Mexico subsidiary, who was quoted in the report, said that Best Buy is targeting the Federal District-Guadalajara corredor and that the company plans to establish stores in Mexico City and its periphery, as well as in the states of Michoacan and Jalisco.

As Mexico Law Blog reported on August 24, 2008, the first Best Buy store in Mexico will be located in the Mundo E shopping center north of Mexico City.  The Mundo E location will be the company’s second largest store, at 5,500 sq. meters and with 2.5 million potential customers.  The company’s largest store is located in Shanghai.

Chrysler Mexico announced that it would lay-off 300 workers from its Derramadero, Coahuila plant because of decreasing demand for pick-up trucks in the United States, according to a report in today’s El Financiero. 

The report said that Chrysler Mexico would continue its plan to invest US$570 million in its Saltillo facilities, where production is expected to commence in 2009, generating 485 new jobs.